[Nicoyaangel]

I realized it was time to start losing the weight when I got out of the shower one day and tried to wrap the big beach towel around me and realized that it didnt fit all the way around. I still needed about 5 inches to cover all of me and have some extra cloth. Then I knew it was that time to lose the weight

[mandalinn82]

When I first tried on a wedding dress and the size 22 barely fit. And I looked like a sausage barely crammed in its casing.

[cbmare]

I decided that it was time about a year ago. Nothing was working for me. So I came here and learned a tremendous amount. I've lost it slowly but at least it's a loss and not larger clothes.

[Cookie_Monster]

After a year of being in denial and not weighing myself (and eating like crap), I stepped on the scale and it read 195...eek! I was almost at what I weighed when I was 9 mos. pregnant! That was my wake-up call.

[tamaralynn]

My health was going down the drain.

I had:

Acid refulx
almost no immunity system (always sick)
back pains (excrutiating!)
constant headaches

I was always klutzy growing up - but being this big, I was really hurting myself, I have broken fingers, my tailbone and almost busted my spine.

I figured enough was enough. I also quit smoking 3 weeks ago.

[nelie]

When I bought a size 32 jean because size 30 was too snug.

[Supersub]

...my scale didn't go that high anymore.
...my size 26 jeans were starting to feel snug.
...my back started to hurt all the time.
...I was disgusted when I saw myself in the mirror.
...I had a hard time finding a picture of myself. I always take the pictures because I don't want a permanant record or my size.

[NightengaleShane]

I realized it was time to lose weight long before I actually started doing it. I blew up (50 pounds in 6 months) then let myself stay that size for a whole year before deciding I had enough. I was making my life miserable and of course, I was the only one I had to blame. The only thing I could think about was how much I hated my weight and I kept wondering if others noticed how big I was. I couldn't stop talking about it, and I mentioned countless times that I wanted to lose weight, though it obviously took awhile for me to go and do it!

A whole series of events made me realize it was time:

-Buying my first pair of size 14 pants and realizing that I was headed towards the plus sized realm
-Seeing that I was 20 pounds overweight and only needed to gain 15 more to be clinically obese according to the BMI chart
-Sitting in a bizarre, awkward clenched position to make sure I was hiding my belly fat
-Crying every time I tried on clothes because nothing cute fit me properly
-Realizing that I had a whole closet full of clothes that I couldn't wear (but I didn't throw out a single item because I wanted to make sure I got down to the same size or smaller! And I can fit almost all of them now! )
-Knowing that I would not go to any casting calls until I lost my weight
-And the self hatred was enough to make me go, "ok! enough!" so when I started my new job, I decided to ride my bike each way. It's around 9.5 miles away, which makes for a total of a 19 mile ride every day. Then, I decided I needed to watch what I ate and do a few other exercises so that I could get toned, fit, and healthy.

Oh! Bad health... acid reflex and insulin resistance both suck!

[melekalikimaka]

When my "fattest fat" jeans were snug and I refused to go up yet another size--plus like Cookie Monster mentioned above, my weight was just around what it was when I was 9 mos. pregnant. As I've gotten older and my weight has fluctuated anywhere from 20-50 lbs up and down over the last 4 years or so, it really affects my knees (had to have knee surgery for a torn meniscus and to ease up some ligaments that were pulling the wrong way due to exess weight), not to mention the wonderful TOM problems (all or nothing) that come with having excess fat producing excess estrogen.... boy, I didn't realize my reasons were so many. I'll stop here now

[ennay]

When my dad died of lifestyle diseases (lung cancer untreatable because of heart disease, diabetes, etc. etc.) and my daughter was 9 months old and I realized that I had inherited his genes (high chol since 21, insulin resistant by early 30's) and I was not going to let my health do to my kid's childhood what his health did to mine.

Funny I was going to post this question in a different manner this week. I keep hoping something will trigger my friends into saying enough is enough.

[almostheaven]

When I was 37. I bent down to tie my shoes and when I raised up, I was huffing and puffing like I'd just run a marathon. I realized all the health problems running through my family were going to be catching me soon and I really wasn't ready to give up on life so young. Today at 42, I feel better than I did when I was 20. The weight's gone and my health is better than it probably was even then.

[drake3272004]

Health problems!
sleep apnea
acid reflux
hormone imbalance
endometrial hyperplasia caused by the imbalance
tendonitis in both arms
infertility

I kept putting off losing the weight (never thinking about my health) cause I figured what would be the point if I was just going to gain for a pregnancy anyway. But then I kept adding more and more to the list of health problems and when the scale hit 238, it hit me...........I needed to lose weight first!

[HarpoChicoGroucho]

It was a few different things for me: when I went out of town with my mom and couldn't wear a seat belt because it wouldn't fit -- when I got winded by sitting up and pulling the covers over me and breaking out in a sweat when I toweled off from a shower -- when I barely fit in the bathtub (and struggled to get out of it) -- when I was down to my last pair of jeans that would fit (size 26) -- when I was embarrassed to go out in public in the daytime.

[losinitin07]

I decided to lose because I can not find cute big clothes and because I want to be healthy. I was like NightengaleShane I talked about it a lot but didn't do any thing about it . I know people saw me ballooning ,but no one will tell you , you have gotton so big. I also have head aches and joint pain. People do treat you different if you are not overweight have you ever noticed that?

[sfj]

When I saw this picture last Christmas. Whats sad is I weigh more now than in that picture.